2 thoughts on “Soli nella zattera con onde più grandi di noi?”

The article’s writer says the Brexit vote was about ideas. I – pour ma part – think it was more about xenophobia – the fear that England is being overrun by foreigners.

But the results showed the irony that the more the Englishman rubbed shoulders with foreigners in his daily life, the more likely he was to vote to “stay” in Europe. The less he rubbed shoulders with foreigners in his daily life, the more likely he was to vote to “leave” Europe.

Another irony was that the younger the Englishman, the more likely he was to vote to “stay”. The older he was, the more likely he was to vote to “leave”. Thus has the old and embittered Englishman, raging against the dying of the light, decided the future of his children.

The Englishman who once ruled the world, has today become an irrelevance. Even a joke. The island he lives on, Britain, is soon to return to being the insignificant off-shore promontory it was 500 years ago – before the first Englishman sailed off to conquer the world.

The more the Englishman rubbed shoulders with foreigners in his daily life, the more likely he was to vote to “stay” in Europe. The less he rubbed shoulders with foreigners in his daily life, the more likely he was to vote to “leave” Europe.
Very acute.

The Englishman who once ruled the world is blinded by his past greatness and considers himself superior. But we must be fair, we are here talking of the Little Englander type, mostly, not all Englishmen being like that, as the Brexit vote attests (and as you also point out).

This type of Englishman doesn’t realise that we live in a much bigger world with new players, new powers (and new “soft powers”).

I liked by the way the notion of “soft power” (vs “hard power”) which was unknown to me. I have read in the Wikipedia that “soft power” is a concept developed by Joseph Nye of Harvard University.